Our God and Father and Redeemer, we call upon Thee now for Thy help, for listening to the preaching of Thy Word, that it may please Thee to open our ears and our hearts, that it may find access into us, that it might do us good, that it might heal us, that it might correct us, that it might make us grow up in the knowledge of Christ. We seek Thy blessing upon the preaching of Thy Word, O God, fill me with thy Spirit, that I may preach thy word with power. Lord, that thou standest next to me, and thou helpest me. Help me, O God, and help us to know thy presence here today, for thou art here according unto thy word and thy promise, which faileth not. So help us this day. May Jesus Christ be lifted up, exalted in every heart here, We pray for Jesus' sake only, amen. As we examine this epistle which has just been read, or the portion of which has just been read out to us, there are a few things that we need to consider beforehand, some context of what we've read. Firstly, who is the writer of this epistle? Now, the penman is called James. He says it himself in the first verse. We have no confusion and no doubt about this. But which James is it? Well, some people think that it's James, the son of Alphaeus, one of the apostles. Others think it was probably James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ, born to Joseph and Mary after Christ's birth. But whoever he is, we do know that he's Jewish. He has a Jewish name. In the Greek, we see the name Jacobos, or Jacobus, we might say. So we know he has a Jewish name. It's the Greek version of Jacob, a name well known to us all from the Old Testament. Now, some have suggested that we have the name James here. because the translators wanted to honour King James, who ordered the translation. Or that the translators were merely sucking up to King James in some way, but that's not actually the case. And that's actually a slur upon their reputation, if you think about it. In fact, the name James, as a translation for the Greek version of Jacob, was used by Tyndale 80 years beforehand and by Wycliffe about 200 years beforehand. It's just simply the Norman French version of Jacob, Jem or Jacques, as they use it these days. So fortunately, we can blame the French for that confusion. However, who are the recipients of this letter? Now the recipients are the Jews who have been dispersed throughout the civilized world. Dispersed because of captivity. Captivity which was threatened, warned by the Lord through the prophet Moses. 1400, 1500 years before the time of Christ. And they've been taken into captivity, different sections of God's people at different times by the Eastern powers and by Western powers. And so there they are spread around. the civilized world, the known world of the time. But God, as is usual, as we know Him, turns judgment into blessing because these Jews are safely ensconced. They're safe in these various cities and ports of the Greek-speaking world and the Roman Empire. But there they are with their synagogues, reading the Greek translation of the Bible, the Septuagint, and the apostles are going out to them to tell them of the Messiah. And other missionaries are going out, the followers of the apostles. And in fact, consider on the day of Pentecost how many people were there, how many Jews from various parts of the empire and from the eastern provinces were present, from Parthia, from North Africa and wherever. And so there they were, they were ready. to receive the gospel, but they were also out of harm's way. Because in no less than 10 years after the writing of this letter, Jerusalem fell to the Romans and it was a hard fall. Jerusalem was almost flattened to the ground and thousands, in fact I believe that the historian Josephus talked of millions, were slaughtered in that day. A day of judgment that Jesus himself had warned and prophesied about. But this letter's also written to you and to me this morning. James is speaking to us. Because remember, all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, and it's for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And so the Holy Spirit, through this precious Word of God, is teaching us today to see and learn a certain aspect of His sanctifying work in the lives of the redeemed. So let us examine how the Lord, just like an expert gardener, He trims He clips, he cuts back, he bends and he binds in order that we bear much fruit. 30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold. But this trimming causes pain. It hurts. And this is why the Lord comes even today with an educating and a comforting and a hope-giving word for our souls. And he will combine this with heavenly grace and with his spirit that we also may blossom and bear fruit. So let us consider the three verses, verses two to four of James, and read them once more from verse two. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. And so the title of this message is Our Faith Tried and Tested. Our Faith Tried and Tested. And firstly, we want to look at the command, the command to rejoice in the face of trials. Rejoice in the face of trials. The Apostle James says here in verse 2, Don't be disheartened, but count it all joy. Consider it a matter of rejoicing. Firstly, whom these trials and temptations are for? Well, all Christians will meet with trials. It says here, my brethren. Is that only for men then? You wish. It is for all men, all people, men, women, boys, and girls, considering what Jesus Christ said to the multitude and to his disciples in Matthew 23. He corrects them on a point and then he says, and all ye are brethren. So we're family. That's what it means. It means we're family, the Lord's family, the Lord's children. We are spiritual kin. So spiritual kin, he says, counted all joy. And it's a fact for the Christian It's a fact that we will suffer these trials and these temptations because it doesn't say if. Count it all, joy, if you fall. It's when. In fact, more literally in the Greek, it's whenever. Whenever you fall into temptations. Something which is echoed in 2 Timothy 3 and verse 12, it says, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now I believe, I'm not sure, but I'm 100% almost that our brethren in the health and wealth movement don't want to name and claim that promise. Secondly, what these trials and temptations are, Well, the word behind, if we lift the bonnet of the Bible and look at the Greek, well, the word means a trial and a temptation. It is a cross we bear, and it is a temptation to sin. Both are tests. And indeed, the word that we have here, temptations, from the Latin, means exactly the same. It's a double meaning, testing and tempting. It's only the context that will make the difference. And so the life of a Christian is one of tests, it's one of trials, and it's one of temptations. And of course, that comes to most of us here as no news. But in God's wide providence, we receive diverse trials at diverse times in our lives, in different ways. And the Lord gives to each as He sees fit and He knows best. We can have spiritual trials. We can have problems of coming to faith. We can have problems entrusting the Lord in trials. But also just the, we can be beset by the sin of unbelief. And we can have the trial of persecution. We can come to faith in Christ and our friends desert us. And our families mock us. And those at school pick on us. and our colleagues, persecutors, in subtle or less than subtle ways. We can have mental anguish, we can be beset by depression, or even the winter blues. In fact, the hymn that we sang just a moment ago was written by William Cowper, an English poet and hymn writer. And in 1773, he was falling once again into a deep period of mental anguish and depression. And he wrote that hymn, God Moves in Mysterious Ways. His wonders to perform, he didn't know what the Lord was doing. He was afraid, and yet there was faith and trust there. And so it can be emotional loss The person you love is no longer alive, is no longer with you in your life. They've moved to Australia. They've taken their grandchildren with them. You miss them. That's a cross to bear. And they can be deep burdens of which nobody knows. The mother, or I should say the husband and wife, who desire to be a mother and father and have not been granted the blessing of having children. These crosses can be heavy. and rough and harsh. It can be physical trials, sickness. You can go in for an operation and come out paralyzed, as it happened to a friend of mine in Holland. The life has changed. You can no longer use your body. It can be financial problems. You can lose your job, you can be in debt, you can have stress, you can have the world's worst manager who throws work upon you, a heavier workload upon a heavier workload. These things can be difficult to bear. So, diverse temptations. Many different types at different times. But let us just quickly take note that we're not to seek trials. We're not to look for them. As the language of the Lord's Prayer teaches us, lead us not into temptation. And as the verb used here, when ye fall into diverse temptations, you're falling, you come across them, they're thrown into your path of your life, you're not looking for them, it happens to us. And remember, these trials and temptations can be short-lived, or they could be lifelong. And thirdly, what the reaction to these trials and temptations can be. Well, by human nature, our reaction can be sadness. We can become despondent under trials. Now, human philosophy tries to solve this problem. It might say, remain calm under all circumstances, as the Stoics teach. Eastern paganism might teach us, disassociate yourself from those emotions and feelings, distance yourself from them, as Buddhism would teach. And worldliness says, seek distraction, get a good hobby, get involved in immorality, drugs, alcohol, anything but face that problem. And of course, Job's friends, well, they would just say it was our own fault anyway. Well, here we have a contrast between natural and supernatural. Those things I've mentioned are natural, are what the flesh does. And so we have then the comparison between the flesh and the spirit. And here is the contrast. Biblical Christianity teaches us to be joyful under them. Night and day, the contrast, truth and falsehood, flesh and spirit. But here's a very good question, where do we get this joy from? And that brings us to our second point, is to know the why of trials. Why? You should know the why of trials. And as he says in beginning, verse 3, he says, knowing this. So he's saying, know this, keep this in mind. Know that the trial of faith works patient endurance. Firstly, the faith tested. Our faith will be tried. Not the same as our next door neighbour, not the same as the person who sits in the same pew, not the same as your mum and dad, but it will be tested. And if you'd like to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 8 with me, we'll look at one of the many Old Testament versions of a testing. Deuteronomy chapter 8, Looking at verses two and three. Verse two of chapter eight of Deuteronomy. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness, to humble thee and to prove thee, that is to test thee. to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandment or no. And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know. But he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. See, the Lord is teaching them here through physical, through natural, through human experience and trials, a spiritual lesson. And so the Lord works still amongst us. And true faith will bring forth true fruits, fruitful trials. what the Lord is looking for and what the Lord is using. Of course, the opposite to that is also true. No faith means no fruit bearing, just empty trials, just fruitless suffering and experiencing the sin and the misery of this life. So one of the first points to know and to cause joy within us is knowing Jesus, is having the faith in Him, faith in Jesus Christ as your own Savior, that He is yours and you are His. Knowing Jesus is the cause of great joy to the believer at all times. Secondly, the patience produced. Again, he says, know, know that the trial of faith produceth Patience produces patient endurance. This patience, the word here, is not the passive suffering that we might find elsewhere used. There's a specific Greek word, and this is the patience is the power to endure. It is, shall we say, spiritual resilience, spiritual stamina to endure, a standing, and it's not a falling. The trying of one grace, Matthew Henry says about this, produces another. And the more the suffering graces of a Christian are exercised, the stronger they grow. Well, the stronger the Christian grows and the stronger the graces grow. So this patient endurance, well, we see this word again in 2 Thessalonians 3 and verse 5, and I'll read it for you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. So we see it's a patient waiting for Christ. So also this joy of bearing spiritual fruit, pleasing to God, knowing that there is fruit to be born, even through suffering, is a cause of joy. Thirdly, sovereign, sanctioned. Sovereignly sanctioned. And we turn quickly to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. We'll read together 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13. Let these words sink in. Remembering that this word here, temptation, also, even within the context, quite easily means trial. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13, there hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. Amen. This should make arise in us a joy, the joy of knowing that God is in charge. This is not a random thing happening to you in your life. This is not something that happens to a world that has evolved and that people have just evolved from fish and monkeys. These are being directed at us by an almighty, sovereign God. Have the joy of knowing that all the other things I don't know, and there are many things we don't know why, but we know this, that God is in charge. And fourthly, for good and glory. For good and glory. He says he allows it for our own good and for his own glory. We probably know the text, Romans 8, verse 28, off by heart. And if we don't, let me encourage you to do that this afternoon. Because there are many things that we don't know in life, why these things come upon us, why the Lord brings them into our life, why that person has been brought into our life, who is as a thorn in our side, or in our eye. But the Lord's word says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. My wife gave birth to our first child, Joshua, and at that time she had internal bleeding. and she had to go into the operating room. And there I was sitting with a newborn baby, a few hours old, and my wife in the operating room, confronted with the fact that the Lord giveth and the Lord might take away. That he give me a little newborn baby boy and he might take away my wife in the same hour. And at that time, Romans 8 and verse 28 came into my mind and into my heart. I don't know why the Lord's doing this. I don't know what's going to happen. But I do know this. I do know this. That He works all things for good to them that love the Lord. And He has it all worked out according to His purpose. This will give us joy. Because these trials come from God's love, not from God's wrath. And these trials are making us more like Jesus. People can be fans of football players. They can be fans of musicians and pop stars. But without bringing it down too low, and that would be, we should be fans of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should, as it were, on the posters of our, on the walls of our mind and our hearts, have the image of Christ looking towards him. He is our saviour. He is our redeemer. We should have more love than somebody would have for a football player. And they can be so obsessed. They can be fanatics. But we should look to Jesus and we should look to Him. Are we becoming a little bit more like Him? Not wearing the same shoes as that football player, not wearing the same deodorant or perfume as that musician, but are we becoming more like Jesus every day? That should bring joy into the heart. If only we could keep these truths within the brain and within the heart when we're suffering the trials. The joy of knowing that God's words of comfort in the scripture will help us. They will comfort us. So let me send you back to the scriptures this morning to look for the comforting words of the Lord, that he's doing this for our own good and it will be for his glory. So know the word of God. Seek out those comforting texts. And this joy is a supernatural witness to a dying world. It's a supernatural witness of what the Lord has done in our hearts. Who are we? Nothing. We're sinners who are deserving of punishment. But this supernatural work witnesses to the world of God's power, and it's an annoyance to our enemies. Do you not have the joy? Pray for it. Pray that you'll have the joy. Don't you feel it? Well, don't rely on your feelings, think it. That's how James begins, he says, count it all joy, consider it, think it. This should be a cause of joy. But remember, joy does not equal happy. Joy is not happy. Although we sing, and I am happy all the day at the end of that hymn, it should actually be joyful. The joy is deep within, and it's something else than happiness. And so we've seen that we should rejoice in the face of trials and that we should know the why of trials, why it's happening. And thirdly, the perfecting results of the trials. Firstly, James says, submit to the trial. It's a humble submission to the Lord's will. We can pray by all means that the Lord will take it away. Paul did. Three times he prayed to the Lord that the thorn in his side would be removed, and it wasn't. The Lord knows better. Pray by all means, but then pray that he'll help you submit. Let him have his way. Let him have his perfect work within you. And please ignore the lies of the devil. What's God doing now? What's he doing now? This is out of God's control. You're never gonna get any better out of this. This is gonna destroy you. God's not that kind after all. Or the lies of the world. Leave him. He's not worth it. Go away from that job. Go away from that problem. Avoid it. But this bitter medicine has got to do its work. And we should pray for humble submission. Secondly, we need to become biblically perfect. Not hard and loveless as the world's perfectionism is, but perfect and entire. The words here, perfect, means mature, grown up, and entire meaning whole, lacking nothing, wanting nothing. We'll become more like Christ, Christ-like perfection. We'll become more like the one whom our soul loves. And remember this, it is part of the Spirit's perfecting and sanctifying work. He's making us ready for glory. And let that be another source of joy. The Lord is working within us. Thirdly, that we obtain the crown of life. Look at James 1 and the 12th verse. James 1 and the 12th verse, and I'll read it out. Blessed, not cursed, not weighed down. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Do you love the Lord? He has promised a crown of life to you, even through the trials and temptations of life. Eternity. is forever, now is very short. So hold out for that reward, and trust Him in the holding out, and be joyful in the persevering, because such submission, such spiritual growth, and the promises are the crown of life, and eternal joy and glory are for us, but they're not for those who are outside of Christ. So you who are outside of Christ this morning, know that these promises are not for you, unless you turn from your sin and turn to Jesus Christ, and you become His, and He becomes yours. And then there's hope. Now you can take on board all the hopeful promises that have been mentioned this morning. But up until that point, let me warn you now that there is fruitless suffering. and eternal damnation for you. So let us conclude. Rejoice in the face of trials. We could almost say, with Christ, we can laugh in the face of problems. We should know the why of trials. We should have the knowledge and understanding of why God might do this, and that should lead us to trust Him and to have joy in Him. and we should look forward to the results of the trials, that we be closer to God in Christlikeness, and that will bring us closer to Jesus on our knees every single day. So count it all joy, knowing that we are the children of God, and that God desires through these tests that we poor yet redeemed sinners be brought into conformity with Jesus Christ. and that we should mature spiritually, and that we should accept our Father's wise decisions in our lives, and that growing thereby we go from grace to grace, that we go from sorrow to joy, and from earthly griefs to heavenly joys, remembering that the time of these testings is short, because soon he will console us for eternity. Let me close now with the words in Revelation 21 and verse four. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. Amen. We'll close our meeting with prayer. Let us all pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the word that has been brought to our hearts this morning. We pray a blessing upon that word now. We pray that it would bring forth fruit in our spiritual lives. We thank thee for the reminder that we have received of thy great sovereignty and also of the truth of thy kindness and love toward us. We pray that we would have joy in our lives. We pray that every day would be a joyful day of service for our Saviour. That we would be able to say, as we look forward to the end of life's journey, that until then, my heart will go on singing. Until then, with joy I'll carry on. until the day mine eyes behold the city until the day that you call us home and we pray father that we would go forward with joy to love thee and to serve thee we ask that thy blessing would be upon us this day keep us we pray in thy will throughout the afternoon and bring thy people back again to this house to worship thee this evening for we pray in our savior's name and for his sake amen